The role of mRNA levels and cellular localization in controlling sn-glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase expression in tissues of the mouse.
sn-Glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (glycerol-P dehydrogenase, EC 1.1.1.8) activity levels in seven tissues of adult mice vary approximately 100-fold from a low of 0.1 unit/mg of protein in the cerebral cortex to a high of 8 units/mg of protein in the brown fat of cold-adapted mice; the brown fat accounts for approximately 1% of the total tissue protein. This high degree of variation in the quantitative expression of an enzyme in different tissues has provided us with a system for analyzing the mechanism by which tissue specific variation for a given gene product is controlled. To this end we have measured the amount of immunoreactive enzyme and the level of translatable glycerol-P dehydrogenase mRNA and have localized the glycerol-P dehydrogenase-positive cells by immunocytochemistry. We have found that the amount of enzyme protein in a tissue is strongly correlated with the level of its translatable mRNA (correlation coefficient = 0.996) and that in several cases the differences among tissues can be explained by differences in the numbers of glycerol-P dehydrogenase-positive cells.
D002001:Adipose Tissue, Brown / Q000201:enzymology; D000818:Animals; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000201:enzymology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000201:enzymology; D003080:Cold Temperature; D005993:Glycerolphosphate Dehydrogenase / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007668:Kidney / Q000201:enzymology; D008099:Liver / Q000201:enzymology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009928:Organ Specificity; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D013737:Testis / Q000201:enzymology
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D005993:Glycerolphosphate Dehydrogenase